Rage: Through Another's Eyes
by Raistlyn512
Summary: This is the final version of Rage: TAE.
1. Chapter 1: A Caual Day, Gone To Hell

Rage: Through Another's Eyes

Rated M

Mythology (Realistic)

Chapter 1: A Casual Day, Gone to Hell

_The dreams were getting worse and worse. I was haunted in my sleep, never being granting solitude or safety. Everywhere I went, HE was there; the man with the scar across his eye. He would find me no matter where I went in my dreams; somehow he always seemed to be one step ahead of me. The nightmares had been going on for weeks; I just had no idea why I was being hunted and forced to watch those I care about die a horrible, awful, painful death time after time again. Not until today._

I awoke to the sound of my alarm clock ringing, just that classic old telephone ringing. 6 a.m. was certainly too early to be up doing anything, especially getting ready for school. _"Let's hope I remembered to do the laundry and set the coffee maker last night,"_ I thought to myself. _"Better go ahead and get ready. I should've just slept over at Jessie's last night. Would've made it so much easier..."_

I proceeded to get ready, grabbing my combat boots, trench coat, and guitar. "Maybe I should wear my Converse instead," I said to myself. So I walked back into the living room, dropped my boots in their spot, and grabbed my black converse. I looked around trying to find my hat. It wasn't anywhere to be found. _"Maybe I left it at Jessie's last night?"_ I thought to myself. _"That proves my point that I should've just stayed the night over there instead of here. But it's whatever…"_

I loaded up in my green Volvo, which was "crappy as can be, but can get from point A to point B and sometimes even a C" as I liked to put it. I put my guitar case in the back seat. My book bag, though empty as it was, had remained in the car. Most of my school supplies were kept in my guitar case since I could never find my bag when needed. _"Time to get Jessie_,"I thought, happily, as I pulled out of my driveway, turning up my favorite Avenged Sevenfold CD.

I arrived at Jessie's house shortly after leaving my own. It hadn't even been 5 minutes. I looked at my phone to see the time, 6:30. I would've checked the time on the clock in the car, but it hadn't worked for a few weeks at this point. _"We've still got plenty of time to get to school. Class doesn't start until 7:30. That gives us an hour, probably a lot less, knowing how long it always takes her to get ready. I wonder if she wants to go out and get breakfast. I have two free McCafe's at McDonald's…"_ I threw my stuff into the truck and turned to the house, sighing with relief.

I ran up and opened the door with the spare key they had given me. They were accustomed to having me stay there. Hell, I basically lived there. I would spend more time there than at my own house. Momma Wolf, Jessie's mom, walked out of her bedroom in her robe, drinking her first cup of coffee.

"Shit, that's what I forgot this morning," I said, walking into the kitchen to make me a cup of coffee. "Jess, come on or we're going to be late. One more time and we get suspended!"

"You know perfectly well that we have plenty of time to get to school, McMath," Jessie replied from her bedroom. "Why do you seem to be in such a hurry? It's not like we were going out to breakfast or something, you know?" she said kiddingly.

"Well actually…" I started, "I had actually planned to go to McDonald's or something to get breakfast before school. That's why I'm here so early. If you wanted to, that is," I said, beginning to stumble over my own words.

"Well yeah, that would be nice. Plus, you can actually eat it, unlike our school breakfast, which, does not, if I may add, have ANY coffee," she giggled.

"Well we better get out there if we want something. Are you ready yet?" I asked, a tone of urgency in my voice.

"Yeah, I'm ready," she said. She walked out of her room wearing a black button up, a pair of bellbottoms with a black and white checkered stud belt, and her black converse, with some green laces of mine. She had her hair brushed out and over one shoulder in a Katniss braid and had my Hunger Games pin on her shirt. She had black and silver Jolly Roger earrings in.

"You gonna keep staring, or are we actually gonna go somewhere and get something to eat? I actually haven't eaten since like two this morning, and I'm hungry," she said, with a laugh.

"What? Duh, I mean, yeah. You look great. I mean, uh, let's just go. I want some food," I said, blushing slightly. "Just get in the truck." I looked down and held my hand out, into which Mom placed the truck keys.

"I want you kids to be careful. I've got a feeling something's going to happen today. Keep her safe, Alex. And Jessie, don't do anything that I wouldn't approve of. Or, don't get caught, rather," her mom said, laughing. "Don't keep her out too late, Alex. I want you two home in time for dinner."

"Yes ma'am. I'll have her back right after school. I need to start working on a song on guitar anyways…" I said, half to myself. I turned an about haste and headed to the door, holding it open for Jessie. As we walked out the door I said "trust me Mom, if ANYTHING happens to Jessie, you'll be certain it's only after I take my final breath" before slamming the door closed. "Get in the truck. I already moved all of my stuff over. We're going to McDonald's."

I threw the truck into reverse and pulled out onto the street, headed for McDonald's when Jessie said "that's a nice shirt, Alex. Where'd you get it?"

"This old thing? I went on a little shopping spree at Wal-Mart. I got you a present, but it's at the house. We can stop and get it after school, but I CANNOT get you suspended. We're already in enough trouble as is, and you know that. Plus, this one is a bit too expensive to take to school, if you know what I mean," I said, trying to be somewhat mysterious, but failing horribly.

"Well, it's not MY fault that YOU insist on taking me out to breakfast and even dinner on occasion. You always take me out to get food. So don't complain about it. I want a mocha iced coffee. Nothing big, I have to maintain my figure," she said, giggling.

We drove around the drive through and ordered our iced coffees and pulled into a parking spot and sat and talked for a while.

"So this is nice, we almost never get any time alone anymore, now that I'm basically living with you. You know what I mean?" I said, trying to be nice.

"Yeah. It really does suck. So let's play a game. Let's play "Tell Jessie What the Fuck You Got Her as a Random Fucking Present Already Dammit"! It's a really fun game! Wanna know the rules?" she said, inching closer and closer until her face was right up in mine. We could hear each other breathing for a half a second of silence.

"I think I can guess the rules of the game. By the way, you just lost The Game. But no, you can wait until we get home. You can get out of my face whenever you want," I said before kissing her on the cheek.

She pulled her face back and yelled "dude, what the fuck? I wasn't serious!" and started rubbing her cheek frantically.

"Oh, you know you liked it. Did I happen to leave my hat at your house when I left in a hurry last night? I couldn't find it this morning," I said, avoiding what just happened.

"Yeah, you did," she said, still rubbing her face. She began to blush and said "I hung it on a nail sticking out of my bed frame. I didn't want it getting damaged."

"Okay, cause I need that back. I didn't have a decent one to wear to school today. We can grab it after school," I said, backing the truck up.

"Are you talking about my ass or the hat?" she asked.

"I'll leave that one up to you," I said before laughing. "But I really need to get my hat."

It didn't take long for us to drive up to the school and find a parking spot. We got out of the truck, I grabbed my guitar case and handed Jessie her bag, even though I could've just fit everything in my case, but she was persistent on carrying her own stuff. I gave up after the second day of trying.

"I really wish you would just let me put everything in here since all you have to carry is a notebook and a pencil," I said, walking up to the front door carrying my guitar case.

"I know, but you already do so much for me. Plus, you could go through my stuff whenever you wanted and try and find those love notes you always think I'm writing," she said with a smile.

"That's EXACTLY why I wanted to carry it. I wasn't trying to be nice or anything," I said sarcastically.

"Well, come on. Let's go sit with our group," Jessie said.

"Not today. I actually wanna play guitar. You know you wanna sit and watch me and my amazingness play guitar like a beast!" I said, trying not to laugh.

"You and awesome should not be in the same sentence unless the word 'not' is between them," she joked.

"And in bed…?" I kidded.

"I would have no idea, no matter how much you may dream about it. But come on; let's get down there before we miss out on anything. Don't want to have to hold you while you cry for missing your solo or something," she laughed.

"Shut up, you know you would love to sit and hold me. And I would not cry. Unless it was from laughing about how bad these guys fucked it up," I said, regaining some of my ego.

We walked down the side stairs down to the guitarists and hackey sack players. I went to get my guitar out of my case when Sage walked up to me and said "dude, you got an extra pick? Mine broke."

"Yeah man, hold on. Let me get my damn guitar out of its fucking case," I said, unlocking and unlatching the case. "Here," I said, throwing it behind my head.

"Thanks man," he said, grabbing the pick and walking back over to our group.

Just as I had tuned my guitar back into drop E flat, back from DADGAB, which I tuned it to play some Pink Floyd, the announcements came on and said " teachers, please keep all students in the cafeteria and auditorium. We're on code red."

"But code red means someone is in the building, possibly armed and highly dangerous. How could they get past the-" Jessie started.

She was interrupted as a person fell through the window overlooking the lunchroom, shattering the glass on impact. The students and staff ran from him like he had the Plague. They were frightened out of their minds. There was a chorus of screams as students and teachers alike ran from the man, fearing for their lives. Jessie ran behind me, expecting me to protect her.

"Okay, Knight, you may protect your beloved Princess now," she said, sounding worried.

The tall figure in a brown trench coat rose. He had a buzz cut, gray hair. He was wide shouldered; you could see his muscles from the sleeves of his trench coat, which were ripped off. He looked around for a few seconds, spending maybe two seconds on each group. He turned around the lunchroom, talking to himself. He glanced over at me, because Jessie squealed from behind me. I instantly recognized him as a man from my nightmare last night. He was only one of many that were in that room, watching us suffer. He smiled and continued searching for his target as another man jumped through the window and landed beside him. The second man was a very tall, thin man with only one notable feature; his hands were shaking constantly.

The second man looked at the first and they began to talk for a minute before the second man screamed "WHERE?" and started to look around frantically, like a kid that lost their blankie.

"SYX! Where are you?" the older man screamed.

I started to walk forward, into the crowd, to attack our unwelcome intruders, when Jessie wrapped around me and begged "Alex, please, this isn't our fight" and latched into the pocket of my trench coat and grabbed my chest to keep me there, close to her. Or maybe out of danger. I looked at her, glanced over at the two men, looked back at her and said "alright, I'm trusting you on this. I can't have them, or you, getting hurt." I looked around at the crowd, standing in shock and fear, as the two men started moving, searching for Syx.

"I'll be back soon, I promise. Keep this safe. I won't be long," I said, handing her my guitar and kissing her on the cheek. I pulled an about face, ran towards the stairs, and climbed up the bars, all in about 7.3 seconds. I started running for the door and instantly smelled blood. I almost threw myself over the rail of the broken window to see Syx pull an arrow out of a third man's throat.

I heard a piece of glass shatter behind me. It didn't sound like someone went through another window, it sounded like someone stepped on a piece of glass. I hesitated while the sounds of footsteps on glass got closer and closer. I broke a shard of glass off of the window, turned and lunged, slicing his upper arm before realizing it was Freddy.

"Dude, that fucking hurt! I just wanted to make sure you were okay, but now I've gotta cut you up! You cut my fucking shirt!" he cried on and on, like a little girl.

I threw my piece of glass on the ground and it shattered and I said "I'm sorry man, I didn't know it was you. I thought you were someone trying to hurt me or Jessie."

He picked up a piece of glass and made to lunge at me, but we both ceased all movements at the cry of "Foul little Demon! I'll kill you!" coming from below. I dropped my guard long enough for him to swing and connect with my jaw and slice at my chest, ripping my shirt, a few seconds after. He sliced again and sliced most of one arm of the trench coat off before I managed to connect my elbow to his temple, kick him in the ribs, and throw him into the shards of glass on our battle arena above the main arena.

"You little bastard, that's what you get for fucking with a ginger," I said in an almost hushed tone. "Not to mention ripping his favorite fucking shirt," I said taking my trench coat off and ripping my shirt off and tucking it into one of the pockets of the trench coat. I took a shard of glass and cut the rest of that arm of the coat off up to the shoulder. I cut the other one to match. I kicked him in the ribs again before running back to the stairs where Jessie and I were not even 10 minutes ago, but I was bleeding heavily, and fast. _"Maybe if I can get to her, she can use what's left of my shirt to bandage it enough to get us back home and have Mom patch me up… I sure hope so…"_ I thought as I made my way back over to the stairs, starting to lose my balance from the loss of blood and also the pain. I jumped down the stairs and almost knocked Jessie down going around the last turn before falling face first to the floor.

"FUCK!" I screamed, reaching for my chest, feeling the blood pour out like liquid out of a punctured can.

"Are you okay?" we both asked at the same time. My vision was starting to get blurry. "I'm okay, but you're dying. Honestly, I'm surprised you aren't dead yet. Let me patch you up. Good thing I brought my duct tape!" she said, pulling her duct tape bag apart and laying the shirt over the gash.

"I know how have a very strong fascination with duck tape but I-" I stopped. The pain was getting worse and worse and I was losing more blood the more I put it off. "Go ahead. Just do whatever you have to do to keep me alive until we get home."

She taped the shirt to my chest. It didn't feel good at all, but at least I was losing less blood than before. _"It's slowed down a little bit, but not much. Let's hope it's good enough to get me back to the house. I hope I haven't lost too much blood..."_

I ran out the door of the school and collapsed on the walkway. "You can't die on me now McMath. I still have so much to tell you," she said, picking me up. I grabbed the guitar in my left hand, the arm that didn't get cut open, and had her under my other arm, holding me up. She managed to get me to the truck, open the back, put my guitar in it, lay me in the back seat, and get it started and backed up before I blacked out.

I came back to my senses right as we pulled in the driveway. I opened the door and got two steps into the house before passing out from loss of blood.


	2. Chapter 2: The First of Many Nightmares

I awoke to my head being shoved into a barrel of water. I tried holding my breath, but a fist made contact with the back of my head, causing me to yell, which caused me to take in water. I tried coughing it up, but every time I tried, I just sucked in more water. I kept choking until they pulled my head out of the barrel and threw me into the floor. Upon my hitting the floor, my senses came back to me, and I heard screaming. I looked up to see Booky, Jessie, and Syx tied up in chairs with men behind them. One man walked up behind me and put his heavy boot on my back, saying "you move, you die. You die, they suffer worse. It's your choice."

They brought Booky forward first. They sat her down at a table and punched her in the face before walking back to a wall of weapons. The tall, muscular one started looking at all manner of knives: kunai, bowie knives, daggers, curved knives, serrated daggers, spiked daggers, shattered daggers, carpenter knives, kitchen knives. He walked over to a curved, jagged knife with the tip broken off and took it off the wall. He walked back over to Booky, pulled her head back, and stuck the knife in the table.

"Pick a number from one to ten," he said, licking his lips, tracing his fingers over the rough hilt of the blade.

"Seven!" Booky screamed and closed her eyes.

He grabbed her right hand and slammed it on the table. He grabbed two butcher's knives off of the wall right behind him and stuck one through both her hand and the table. "Number seven it is!" he yelled, pulling his knife out of the table. Be brought it down on her right index finger and cut through it, Booky screaming like a banshee the entire time. "Pick another one!"

"Three!" she screamed.

He grabbed her other wrist and placed her other hand on the table and shoved the other knife through it. She started to scream as he cut off her left middle finger. "Pick again!" he yelled, amused.

"Nine!" she screamed.

He brought the knife down on her right ring finger. "Next!"

"Five!" she screamed as a tear ran down her cheek.

"Number five it is!" he yelled, bringing his knife down upon her left thumb. "Next?"

"ONE!" she screamed, tears starting to stream down more and more.

"Number one! My FAVORITE NUMBER!" he yelled, bringing his knife off and tearing her left pinky off. "NEXT?"

"TEN, YOU JACKWAGON!" she screamed.

"Number ten it is," he said, calming down as he pushed his knife in the knuckle of her right pinky. "Next?"

"SIX!" she screamed.

"Ah, dear number Syx. We shall save her for last. As far as your number six is concerned though…" he said as he stabbed his knife into her right thumb before shopping it off. "Next?"

"FOUR, YOU ARMHOLE!" she said, kicking under the table.

"Don't kick me, or you may have to suffer more," he said, slicing her left index finger off. "What's next?"

"TWO, YA JIMP!" she screamed.

"Two it is, you stubborn little wretch," he whispered before taking off her left ring finger. "And that just leaves-"

"EIGHT, YOU BANDERSNATCH!" she interrupted, kicking under the table. She actually kicked the leg of the table. "DANG! THAT HURT ME MORE THAN I PLANNED!"

"Eight it is!" he screamed, raising his knife high above his head. He brought it down so hard that it chipped the end of the blade and got blood all over them both. "What do you have to say now?"

"Aww, poor wittle bad guy, your mommy didn't love you, did she? But having a face like that, I can see why," Booky said, trying to find some humor in her current situation.

"You little wench!" he said, walking and getting a wine corker off the wall. He wrapped his massive arm around her tiny throat and brought up his bottle opener. "See this? This is one of the last things you will ever see, except for your friend over there get crushed!"

The man behind me started to press his boot further into my back. I pulled my head back up just in time for me to see him stick the wine opener into her eye, pull it out, and stick it onto the table. "That took too long and wasn't messy enough for me!" he said getting his knife, stabbing her in her other eye, pulling it out, and stabbing that knife into the table. He pulled the knives out of her hands and threw her into the floor next to me.

"I'm sorry I couldn't help you Booky. You know I tried," I said, starting to lose my calm.

"I know you did, Alex. I just wish I could see the look on his face when he realizes how little he did to me. Or what he's doing to everyone else," Booky said, crawling up to me and wrapping a bloody hand around my arm, seeking protection from the only other living person in this room that didn't want to have her hurt anymore, not counting our dear friends still tied up. Jessie was next.

"Don't you dare touch the Princess! I shall have you put to death! Prince, come to my rescue!" she said in a fairytale tone.

"Well, Princess, I would, I just have some guy with his boot on my back threatening to break every rib in my body if I move. Let's see what your brothers taught you," I said, trying to be of some help.

"Shut up and stand still," our unpleasant host said. He grabbed twenty knives off the wall behind him and threw one at Jessie. The first knife hit inside of her right arm, opposite of the elbow. The second hit in the middle of the left wrist. The third one hit in her right ankle.

"Hey, asshole! That's my bad ankle, thank you very much!" she screamed, pain behind every syllable.

"My bad, try this one!" he shouted, overjoyed. He threw a knife at her left ankle that tore through the bone into the Achilles tendon. "Where should I aim next, I wonder?"

He threw another, hitting her in her right knee. The next four hit in her left forearm, right wrist, left foot, and her left shin. "In enough pain yet? Well this next one should be a good one!" he yelled, throwing one that hit her in the stomach.

"YOU MOTHERFUCKER! HELP ME ALEX!" Jessie screamed, tears starting to show.

"I WISH I COULD, BUT I CAN'T! SYX! HELP HER!" I screamed. Syx sat there, bewildered at the fact that we were all getting cut up and left to bleed.

The next knife hit her dead center in the kidney, followed by one halfway up her left thigh. The next one hit her in the ribcage, on the right side, but didn't puncture her lung.

"MOTHERFUCKER! WHY ARE YOU PUTTING US THROUGH ALL THIS FUCKING PAIN? WHY NOT JUST KILL ME?" she screamed. She was begging for death at this point.

"Because killing you would take away the fun for me and the pain for you," he said, turning around to the table. He pulled three more knives out of the table and turned around.

"That's thirteen, if I counted correctly. These next seven should hurt more than the rest. I'm certain of it," he said, aiming at his next targets.

The next three hit in her bladder, and both hips. "Is that the best you've got? My grandmother could aim better than that, and she's dead with a glass eye! No offense, Booky!" Jessie said.

"None taken!" Booky yelled back, then turned to me and said "you Bandersnatch…"

"Let's get this over with!" He picked up three more knives and threw them at the same time. Two hit in the joint of each shoulder and the third hit in the middle of her pelvic bone, snapping it in half.

"YOU WHORE! I NEEDED THAT!" Jessie screamed, tears flowing now.

"One last shot. Hope you get lucky!" he said. He threw the knife straight for her heart. It spun coming off of his hand, and hit her half an inch above the heart. "You lucky bitch. Looks like you get to live… for a little while, at least," he said, walking over to Syx. "Get the glass box. Bring me the spiders!"

He picked Syx up by the hair and carried her over to the fifteen foot tall glass box. He climbed on top of the table and threw her in the box then shut the lid, waiting for his accomplices to return with the spiders.

Three men in black trench coats came into the room through a hidden door in the stone wall carrying a glass box with a giant spider and numerous mini spiders of the same kind in a box. The first man had a Black Widow and a Tarantula. The second man had a Brown Recluse and a Goliath Birdeater. The third man carried a Funnel-web and a Red back. They each walked over to our host and handed him their box, one by one, which was thrown into the big glass box with Syx, who started screaming and trying to claw her way out of the box.

"This is what you get when you fuck with us. Never forget my name. I will come after you. My name is Cantus, and we will meet again Fresh Blood. Always be afraid," Cantus, our very unconventional host, said, bending down to get in my face to frighten me. "Always be afraid," he whispered.

"Cantus, is it? Yeah, fuck you buddy. Do your worst!" I challenged, spitting in his face.

He pulled his face away from mine and kicked me in the face until my vision went out.

That's when I woke up.


	3. Chapter 3: Recovery

Chapter 2: The Recovery

_The nightmares were getting worse: friends and loved ones dying before my eyes. They were becoming more vivid, the sounds and smells haunting me days, even weeks after the dream. One, more than others._

_(Start with the Cantus dream, if not made an entire chapter)_

I awoke after a time of lying on the couch, covered in sweat, breathing heavily. "Booky! Jessie! Syx!" I screamed upon waking up. They didn't walk in to check on me because the dreams were getting worse and worse as time went on. Waking up screaming names was normal for me now. I laid on the couch, my breathing slowing back to normal, but my right arm was restrained. I winced in pain at the pulling of the bandages.

I moved my left arm, the one not bandaged. Sweat rolled down my exposed, bandaged chest. _"I need coffee…"_ was the first thought to pop into my head after the massive pain started to die down a bit. I rolled my head to the side and saw a cup of coffee sitting on the table. My first thought upon seeing that beautiful dragon cup was "damn, I'm luckier than a Russian fighting zombies that found a bottle of vodka." As I reached out to grab the handle of the cup, I saw a note tied to the cup. I untied it and unrolled it to see it was written in draconic runes which said _"2/3 coffee, 1/3 milk, creamer, and sugar, just the way you like it xD"_ with the smile written in common English.

I looked around to see that no one was in the room and decided to push myself up to drink my coffee. I tried grabbing the pillow behind me but all that did was pull the pillow out from behind me and slide me down further. I brought my feet up, trying not to scream at the sharp pain from my entire body, and push myself up that way, only to find my ankle in massive pain. I pulled my pants legs up to see that both ankles were wrapped up in ace bandages. _"Must've twisted them when I fell down the stairs, or maybe when I blacked out,"_ I thought. I looked at my free hand to see that it was bandaged also. My shoulders, chest, entire right arm, left wrist, stomach, and ankles were all wrapped up in ace bandages and covered with duct tape.

"Well, I'm not going to drink any damn coffee just laying here," I said to myself, grabbing the arm of the couch and taking a deep breath while placing my feet tenderly on the other arm of the couch. I pushed with my feet and pulled with my hand and wiggled my way into a sitting position, grinding teeth the entire time. My ankles popped and my feet started to tingle and a pain ripped through my chest and I started to get light headed.

I brought my hand up to my forehead to find that it had an ace bandage on it too, but without the tape. _"How bad did I fall? I could so be a fucking ninja!"_ I thought, pulling my bandaged hand up in front of my face.

"You know, you really should be laying down," Jessie said, walking in, carrying a sandwich. "I laid those straws there for a reason."

I looked down at a little plate with a pile of straws sitting next to where the cup of coffee was. It looked like an ordinary pile of straws on a plate. I stared at them for a second then cocked my head to the side and said "now how the fuck do you expect me to stick these together with one hand?"

"Stop being an ass and just pick them up already," she commanded.

"Yes ma'am," I said, grabbing the first straw, the one sticking out of the stack. As I pulled that straw out of the stack, I saw that another one was attached to it, and another to it, and so on. There were maybe ten straws taped together. I tried not to think about how long all of this must've taken her.

"Ten minutes," she said, laughing.

"Until what, food? I hope," I said, my stomach agreeing.

"This. It took me ten minutes to do this. It would've taken a lot less, but number six kept fucking up on me," she said, a hint of worry behind her tone.

"How did you know what I-" I started.

"Psychic, remember? You should, more than anyone. I'm surprised you forgot about it, considering how in tune you are," she scolded.

"I know, but I also try and block it out, remember. Ever since she started visiting me, I've had all these nightmares and shit," I said reaching into my pocket and pulled out a stone.

"That's the stone Krista gave Syx!" Jessie gasped. "Why do you have it?"

"Syx told me to hang onto it. She was afraid I would forget her, and so I was instructed to keep it. I want it made into a necklace," I said. "But that can wait for another time." I slipped it back into my pocket and swung my feet off the couch, resting my feet on the warm, soft carpet.

"Don't you dare try and stand! You shattered both of your ankles when you slammed the door when you blacked out walking in the house! There's nothing left of them! You cracked your head on the coffee table! Your chest is cut to Hell! You have a gash up your thigh!" she said, trying to dissuade me from standing.

"And you would know about that cut how?" I questioned.

"There was a cut in your jeans and it was soaked in blood. I took your belt off and decided to take your pants off and see how bad it was. Don't worry, nothing fell out of your underwear!" she said, going red in the face. "I put you in a pair of tripps you left over here last night when you left. Honestly, I wish you didn't leave. Maybe your dream could've made sense to me last night. It was a warning. But don't you dare try and stand!"

"Jessie, a man won't learn his limits if you won't let him! Let him hurt himself if it shuts him up!" Jessie's mom said from the other room.

"Thank you, Mom!" I shouted, sliding myself closer to the edge of the couch. Jessie moved to push me back down on the couch until I said "unless you want to lay on top of me and shove your tongue down my throat, sit down." She sat down and her face started to turn red. I took a deep breath and pushed.

My ankles held up fine. My knees felt like I hit them on a coffee table trying to run and catch a falling sandwich. My hips ached like I had just marched a ten hour show. My back was perfectly fine. The cut was searing with pain. I got light headed as I stood straight up then fell right back over on the couch. I thought to myself _"Still too roughed up to stand up but…"_ and Jessie finished my thought by saying " but pretty damn good try.

"Was that what you were thinking?" she said, walking over to me.

"Yeah, it was actually. You know I love you, right?" I said, trying to lighten the mood.

"I know, but you can't help it!" she giggled out before blushing.

"_If only you really knew…"_ I thought. "So what's the plan?" I asked.

"Get some rest. You need as much as you can get," she said, wrapping her arms around my head. I kissed her on the cheek and said "thanks. I wouldn't be here right now if you didn't patch me up."

"Get some rest so I can kick your ass for that as soon as possible," she said before kissing the top of my head and smiling.

As she turned to walk away, my phone vibrated on the entertainment center on the other side of the room.

"Hey, throw that here," I said, holding my hand up. She threw it at me and hit me in the face. "OW! Good thing I support your softball playing, or that would be a weak throw," I said, covering my face with my one hand.

"Okay, so now I don't have to get you back for the kiss," she said, grinning.

I saw a box sitting on the table where my coffee was. "Okay, what the fuck else am I going to miss?" I grunted, grabbing the box. My knife was sitting behind it. The box was covered in solid duct tape of a number of different colors. My initials were in silver Duct tape on the top of the box.

"Turn it over," Jessie said. As I turned the box over, I felt something shift in the box. _"THE GAME"_ was taped on the bottom of the box. "Want your knife to open it or do you wanna try and rip it open?"

"Knife me," I said. She opened my knife and stabbed it into the table in front of me, as I sat the box in my lap, bottom up.

"Danké," I said, grabbing the knife.

"Ja, ja," she replied, watching me open the box.

I slid the knife through the duct tape in one corner and proceeded to cut the other sides before stabbing my knife back into the table, in the same spot.

"Nice accuracy. I have another gift for you, after you open that one. I figured I would only need one sleeve to make the coat," she said as I slid the top off of the box.

Inside the box was a hat, I could tell right away by how the top was shaped. It was knit. It was a black beanie with "MCMATH" knitted in purple with a red border. The bottom border was also red. A solid duct tape wallet fell out also. It was black and purple with a green pocket for guitar picks.

"I love the hat, and would so put it on, but I'm kinda bound here," I said, knowing what she would say.

"Kinky!" she laughed. "I guess we could unbind you. I forget how many layers of tape I put on you. Maybe three… I know one way to find out. I saved the black for your coat. I'll get started on that soon enough. I only had like 69 rolls of duct tape, so I used a few to patch you up."

"Giggity," I said, laughing as she started cutting tape.

My arm was laid across my stomach and taped in place there to give a little bit of extra pressure on my stomach after being cut open. My ankles were still bound. She peeled the bandages off of my head to see that the gash was crusted in dried blood, but healing. That was expected.

She took my knife and ran it down my arm cutting the layers of tape. Soon enough, I could use both arms again. It didn't look too bad, but she insisted on keeping it bandaged up.

"Hand me my guitar, I need to vent," I said. I took my guitar from her hands, plugged it up to the amp behind the couch, and played Iron Man and Calling You. I started to play the intro Trogdor The Burninator and then Nothing Else Matters by Metallica, then continued to play a few different chords, ended up putting a fast sounding solo in it, played the Burnination part of Trogdor, then went and played a little bit of Nightmare by Avenged Sevenfold, then finished with a soft little outro.

"What was that?" Jessie started, "I heard different parts of different songs, but not one definite song the whole time. After I'd realize what each one was, it'd switch." She laughed slightly, "I like that. Have you named it yet?" She sounded amazed, pausing for a second before saying, "But I do have an idea." She continued, "Why not take the Metallica bit and make that your intro?"

I thought for a moment and did, then played it again, edited this time. "Wow, that sounds great actually. It starts out really light then gets heavy and has a slow down section before your little solo and an amazing outro," she said.

"Told you!" she said, with a laugh. "But you need to get some sleep, and let that cut heal. I won't be far, I promise," she reassured me. So I slid back down on the couch and went back to sleep, without a dream this time.

I awoke to Jessie nudging me, saying 'there's something else stuck in your arm. It's that glass from when you fell. Do you want me to get it or do you want to do it?" she asked, sticking the knife into the table once more.

"I'll do it. Grab some pain pills," I said, digging the knife into my arm where the blood was coming from to find a piece of glass.

I thought back to when Freddy and I fought atop the lunchroom with glass as weapons or using our fists. I dug another piece out. Did I fall? I dug another three pieces out. Maybe it was from when I brushed up against the broken glass. I dug two more pieces out. Maybe it got caught in my coat. I dug two more out. Who knew? I dug the last four out. The bandage had begun to peel.

She walked back in with a bottle of pain pills, black coffee with sugar, and some water to find my arm cut open and the thirteen pieces of glass that had fallen into the number six. "Well fuck, that hurt. I wonder how Freddy was after I cut him up…" I said.

"Normally, I would be overjoyed at this, but we need to get that bandage off," she said. "I'll get this, just count to three."

"Alright…" I took a deep breath. "One… Tw-" Off came the bandage, ripping skin and hair out at the same time."FUCK! Two, three! Fuck, Jessie, that hurt! I was ready for after two, but not one."

"What the fuck is wrong with you? Your chest is healed already!" she screamed.

I looked down to see that not only had my massive wound healed up, it had also scarred over in only two days time. I was on my feet before I knew it. "And I can stand!" I exclaimed.

_This was starting to be an interesting recovery._


	4. Chapter 4: Problems

Chapter 3: Problems

"Jessie, you're going to hate me for this, but I need out of here for a while. I need time to think about everything that's happened over these past few days: the nightmares, the thing at the school, my amazing recovery, everything. I'll be back soon, I promise, but please don't follow me. Trust me, I'll be back soon, I promise," I said as I kissed the top of her head, grabbed my trench coat, and headed towards the door.

_"Promises are made to be broken, Bubba. I want you to swear it to me."_ This echoed in my head as I turned and walked towards the door.

"I swear," I whispered to myself. "I swear this won't take long. You just have to trust me," I muttered as my hand wrapped around the doorknob. "Jess, take care of my guitar until I get back. Maybe you could paint the pick guard for me like we talked about," I said before shutting the door and making my way towards my truck. I threw my trench coat in the backseat, turned the key and threw it in reverse, after throwing my phone in the cigarette tray.

I backed up and was out of the driveway faster than I thought possible. When I hit the asphalt, there was a sound of glass hitting metal. I figured it was the window hitting against the back door, so I didn't pay it much mind.

"Now that I've gotten her out of danger, where can I go? My uncle's old house? Why the fuck not?" I said to myself. "Might as well go up the interstate. Go up through Dalton, then head north."

I turned, headed towards Dalton, and started blasting Fall Out Boy.

I had made it to the Tennessee line and was singing "Thanks For The Memories" when another voice joined in on the chorus. I looked in the rear view mirror to see Jessie sitting there, staring at me, twirling her hair. I slammed on the breaks and pulled over at the rest stop right in front of us.

"What the fuck are you doing here? I left you at your house for a reason!" I screamed at her, sitting in the truck.

"Yeah, remember that thud? That was the glass hitting the metal on the hatch, but it only did that because I opened it enough to slide in. I didn't expect you to notice it. And thanks for laying your coat in the back, I actually made you that duct tape one I promised you a while back. I even lined it with that Beatles' cloth I made that pillow of. It should keep you warm. Aren't I sweet?" she laughed as she crawled up into the front and began drinking my Dr. Pepper.

"I really wish you would've let me go by myself. I can't have you getting in any more danger than you already are. That's why I left," I said. "Do you have your whetstone? My knife is getting a bit dull," I said, setting my 12 inch boot knife on the console between us.

"Yeah, I do actually. I'll sharpen it for you when we stop to get food. I even grabbed your guitar too. You would be so lost without me here to hold your hand and wipe your ass, wouldn't you?" she said, mockingly.

"We're turning around. Now. I can't have you getting more involved. I left for a reason. It's too dangerous for you to be here. That's why I left," I told her, pulling out of the rest stop.

"Oh, so it's okay for you to leave the PRINCESS all alone while you go and try to be the knight in shining armor? Is that it? What the fuck, Alex? If it's too fucking dangerous for you to stay and protect me at home, then how in the hell are you going to protect me in Delaware?" she screamed at me.

"You don't understand. No one really does. Not even Syx, wherever she may be. I haven't heard from her in over a week, long before I started getting all these bad feelings that bad things were going to happen. But you know all too well about these, correct?" I said. "And you also know about the nightmares. They could catch me without even trying. They would hold me down, swarm on me, then pull back, blood pouring out of my mouth, my eyes were all white. I think they turned me. Into what, I have no idea," I told with a chilled tone in my voice.

"Turned you gay? But I thought you were already gay? Or do I need to recount your very interesting relationship with Josh?" Jessie chuckled out.

"You know he's like my brother, and you know very well how straight I am. You can't tell me you didn't know that's why I went over to your house for lunch and dinner during band camp," I said, pulling the truck up to another rest stop.

"You know, I don't know what I would do without you here, McMath. Remember that time we went over to Dad's house and walked the tracks and tried to see Syx? You still have the clamps and stuff, don't you?" Jessie interrogated.

"Yeah, I do. It's starting to get late. We better get some sleep. We both need it," I stated, pulling into a parking spot. "Let's see if we can get any sleep tonight."

We crawled into the back of the truck/van and laid down. I slept on the left and she slept on the right, our backs against each others. That's when the nightmares started getting worse.

I awoke to my head being shoved into a barrel of water, my hands and feet were bound. I held my breath for a few seconds until my head was pulled out of the barrel. Screams filled my ears as soon as the water left them. There were numerous screams, and even one girl swearing. I looked around and couldn't believe my eyes. Jessie, Syx, and Booky were all being tortured. Jessie was bound to the wall by knives sticking into her arms and legs, pinning her weakened body to the wall, swearing bad enough to put a sailor to shame. Syx was being held in a glass box filled with giant spiders, screaming, and being watched by our captors. Booky was looking at the table, crying blood. On the table, sat her own eyes and fingers. "_Damn, now she can't read or write. That IS cruel, even for them," _I thought to myself.

The big one, obviously their leader, walked over to the cage I had been thrown in and smiled at me, before leaning down to say "hello, fresh blood. My name is Cantus. Welcome to Hell!" before punching me in the stomach through the bars of the cage. He walked over to the door and opened it, pulling me out of the cage and throwing me onto the floor. My head hit the floor and everything started to get fuzzy.

I looked up at him, standing over me. Blood was trickling down my face and pooling underneath my chin on the cold, stone floor. I looked up at him in time to see his boot fly towards my ribs before they cracked and I flew towards the wall. I hit the stone wall and lay there, bleeding terribly, the scar on my chest bursting open, gushing blood across the floor. I lay there, screaming "MOTHERFUCKER! THAT FUCKING HURT!" and holding my chest and stomach while he stood there laughing. He walked over to me, still laying in the floor, in a puddle of my own blood. He put his boot to my shoulder and rolled me over and I let out another scream of pain. "YOU MOTHERFUCKER! I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL YOU FUCKING GET WHAT'S COMING TO YOU! IT'LL BE THIS PAIN, SEVENFOLD! GO TO FUCKING HELL!" as he brought his boot down on my left knee, shattering it beyond belief, before doing the same to the right.

He stood there for a moment and said "what's wrong, Fresh Blood? Can't walk away? Can't go tell mommy you got hurt? Face it kid, you're never going to see them again. NEVER!" before bringing his massive boot down again, this time on my elbows. I lay there, screaming in pain, trying to roll away from him, with no success.

"Want to see my face as I crush the last little bit of life out of you? I have a better idea; we force all your DEAR FRIENDS here to watch you die, to let them know what I'm capable of," he laughed. He picked me up by the hair and threw me against another wall. "Bring the other's to watch," he commanded. The other men pushed the cages with ease. Booky was brought over and put in the middle of the cages and her wrists were chained to the top, forcing her to either stand or suffer more pain.

"You, my dear, blind beauty, will only have to listen since you can't see. Just hope your friend gives up fast enough that I don't make the rest of you suffer," he threatened then turned back to me.

"So you're still alive? Well, that's one HELL of a will you have there, boy. Let's see if Master can break it," he said, laughing.

"Master, please!" Syx screamed. "Don't hurt him anymore! Let me take his place! Just don't hurt him! I can't stand for my Bubba to suffer and not be able to do anything! PLEASE, let me take his punishment!"

"Silence Syx, or you'll share punishment with this one," he commanded as he kicked my side again, and again, and again, and again. He stopped after a few kicks; by which time all my ribs on that side were shattered.

"I grow tired of this. Let us end this," he said bending down over me. He put his hand on my face and started to crush my face before releasing and siding his hand down my throat and picking me up, sinking his teeth into my throat. I screamed in pain and the others screamed in disgust. He pulled back with most of my throat hanging from his wretched mouth, sucking the blood up almost. He spit my throat in my face and left me there to die, from either blood loss or drowning, whichever came first.

I woke up and shot up, but stopped. All I could see was black and there was a weight on my chest. I went to feel it and I felt hair. I ran my hand over the shape and felt a face, which immediately calmed my "oh fuck, something's trying to kill me!" feeling. I opened my eyes to see Jessie asleep on my chest. _"She must've woken up and curled up on me to try and keep me warm_,_ or maybe to try and help with my nightmare. Maybe that's why I was able to wake up then," _I thought to myself. I looked at the clock, which read 3:47 a.m. _"I better get headed back home. Her mom is probably worried sick about us," _I thought to myself, grabbing my knife out of her other hand. I pulled my duct tape trench coat over her.

"Don't worry," I whispered, "everything is going to be okay as long as you keep close to me. We're going home," I said kissing her head before jumping up into the driver's seat. I turned the radio on and lowered the volume, singing Avenged Sevenfold in my head.

I turned the truck around and headed off for Dalton, thinking the whole time. _"Why would they torture all of my closest friends? But they couldn't have all of them, because Cassandra wasn't there. Even if they were, what the fuck did we do to piss them off? I wonder if Jessie was worried about me and thought that would help me sleep better? Maybe she just couldn't get me to wake up and was hoping that would help me?"_ These thoughts echoed in my mind until I heard a voice behind me.

At about 8, I heard "where are we, close to Delaware? Or maybe the mall of Georgia? We could pick up some CosPlay stuff while we're here," Jessie said, laughing.

"I wish. I need some wigs for our Kingdom Hearts CosPlay. But no, we're headed home. We're a few hours out from Dalton. You can go to sleep or come up here and talk to me for a while. Or you could stay back there and have very bad things roll on you and possibly impale you or smash your skull open. It's your choice," I said, trying to be nice. We were almost home.

"Nice way to put it, asshole," she grunted, sounding very unamused.

She crawled up into the passenger seat and we talked for a few hours. We stopped at McDonald's for lunch around 11 in Dalton. We headed back to her house after.

"Sorry about that," I said. "I thought I could save her by leaving, but realized how less safe she was with me gone. I needed to get some things out of my head, and she happened to tag along. I filled the truck up in Dalton," I said, hanging the keys up.

"It's alright, as long as the both of you are okay. Tyson called while you were gone. He asked about something called the 'Companions', I believe it was. What's that all about?" her mom asked me.

"It means it's time. Jessie, let Tyson know we're back," I said.


End file.
